Toronto’s ombudsman is urging the city to overhaul its parking ticket dispute system and adopt a model that gives bureaucrats, not the courts, the power to settle matters.

The “administrative monetary penalty” approach has been introduced in Vancouver, Vaughan and Oshawa as a way to deal with long court wait times.

Fiona Crean, the ombudsman, believes it could help speed up resolution for drivers in Toronto who say they have been wrongly fined, and save the city money in the process. The city, however, has already voiced hesitation about going down that route, fearing it could face a costly court challenge.

“I think the administrative system is a no brainer, personally,” Ms. Crean said on Thursday, following the release of her latest report, “An Investigation in the Parking Ticket Dispute System in Toronto.” She launched it after receiving dozens of complaints from residents who felt the system was designed to make it quick and convenient to pay, and time consuming and frustrating to fight.

In Toronto, 2.8-million parking tickets are issued every year, raking in about $80-million. About 300,000 ticket holders asked for a trial in 2011.

While overall, the investigation concluded that drivers are getting “reasonable service,” Ms. Crean found evidence that the city indeed makes it harder for residents to dispute a ticket than pay it.

“If you’ve got a rental car because your car is in the garage and you got a ticket, you can actually have that canceled if you have street parking. Bet you didn’t know that. I didn’t know that until I did this investigation,” said Ms. Crean.

Other impediments include inaccurate information on the city’s website which “exaggerates the inconvenience” of fighting a ticket in court and a parking ticket design that tells residents they “must choose” between two payment options but does not highlight a third option of going to a trial because “according to staff, it could lead to more people going to court.”

She said staff have to do a better job of letting Torontonians known when and how they can cancel their tickets without going to court. She also wants the tickets to note the option of disputing the fine in the same size font as the payment options.

The city has already decided to implement a “fixed fine system” starting next year, which makes the fine meted out by a court the same as the set fine on the ticket. It’s expected to discourage people from going to court just on the chance they will get a lower fine, because the justice of the peace will no longer have leeway.

Ms. Crean says an alternative monetary penalty system could improve matters even further. Instead of having to show up in person in court, a driver would talk to a bureaucrat — could be in person, phone, fax or email — about the reason for disputing a ticket, and appeal a decision to an administrative adjudicator or tribunal, thus freeing up scarce court resources. Revenues in Vaughan and Vancouver have increased since those cities changed to administrative penalties, the ombudsman’s report states. There would be a cost to setting up such system in Toronto, which is not known.

Ms. Crean notes that the city would no longer have to pay the costs of court administration, legal staff and overtime for parking enforcement officers. Ms. Crean acknowledges that the system has not been tested in a municipality as big as Toronto and she understands the reticence about a legal challenge, and other hesitation.

That’s why she is calling on the city to ask the Ontario attorney general to refer the matter to the Ontario Court of Appeal for a ruling.

“The cities of Vaughan, Oshawa and Vancouver already have moved to AMPs, allowing drivers to have their challenges to parking violations settled in a matter of weeks,” she said in a press release.